Duke Health’s one-of-a-kind behavioral health building will begin welcoming patients this spring.
The new center, officially named Duke Behavioral Health Center North Durham, is the first of its kind for Duke Health and the biggest construction project that Duke Regional Hospital has undertaken since the community hospital opened its doors in Durham in 1976.
This $102.4 million project on Duke Regional Hospital’s campus, which includes an Emergency Department expansion, has been under construction since 2018. The center brings together Duke emergency, outpatient, inpatient and Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) behavioral health services under one roof.
“This new center is opening at such an opportune time,” said Carey Unger, MHA, Duke University Health System’s associate vice president of Neurosciences and Behavioral Health. “Given the immense behavioral health needs of our surrounding communities, especially during a pandemic, this building will immediately offer an open, warm and welcoming space for our patients in need of these important services.”
“Given the immense behavioral health needs of our surrounding communities, especially during a pandemic, this building will immediately offer an open, warm and welcoming space for our patients in need of these important services.”
— Carey Unger, MHA, associate vice president of Neurosciences and Behavioral Health
The new center:
- Provides a secure unit with 18 private rooms within Duke Regional Hospital’s expanded Emergency Department to specifically to meet the needs of behavioral health patients.
- Consolidates Duke University Hospital’s and Duke Regional Hospital’s behavioral health inpatient units into one unit, with all private inpatient rooms.
- Relocates Duke Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) from Duke South Clinic to Duke Regional Hospital campus and increases the number of its clinic rooms.
- Relocates and expands the 19-room Duke Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic in the Civitan Building to 30 rooms on Duke Regional’s campus.
- Offers new outdoor courtyards, an exercise room, a lactation room, group therapy space and community support group space in a welcoming environment.
Behavioral Health Outpatient and Electroconvulsive Therapy patients are being notified now of the new center in preparation for scheduling their future appointments. The planning process for this project continues to include clinical staff and providers, Food and Nutrition, Security, Environmental Services, IT, Engineering Services, contractors and more.
This week alone, fresh plantings have been going in the ground in front of the center, and inside the building, contractors are finalizing ceiling construction and wall painting.
“It has been amazing to watch this building evolve from a shovel in the ground to a steel structure to a vibrant, welcoming clinic space,” said Katie Galbraith, MBA, FACHE, Duke Regional Hospital’s president and DUHS interim head of community health. “Every aspect of this building, from the state-of-the-art equipment to the big windows to the wall colors, was chosen with our patients and our team members in mind.
“We essentially expect the Duke Behavioral Health Center North Durham to be busy on Day One, that’s how needed these services are.”
Watch the video, "Building a New Behavioral Health Center for our Community":